Sellafield Report 020409

Sellafield Ltd report to the West Cumbria Sites Stakeholder Group Thursday April 2 2009 This report is issued as part of Sellafield Ltd’s commitment to ensuring that information is available to members of the public. The reports will be distributed on a six monthly basis prior to the West Cumbria Sites Stakeholder Group (WCSSG) main scrutiny meetings. It is available in local libraries, council offices and on the WCSSG website: www.wcssg.co.uk Representatives from Sellafield Ltd attend the WCSSG meetings and are happy to field any questions raised. Introduction Since the last meeting of the WCSSG there have been significant changes in the management structure of Sellafield Ltd. On November 24th Nuclear Management Partners (NMP) completed the transfer of shares in Sellafield Ltd and took over as Parent Body Organisation (PBO) from BNFL. This marked the end of a two-year competitive bidding process to find a new PBO for Sellafield Ltd. NMP is a consortium made up of three partners; URS Washington Division from the United States, British company AMEC and French company AREVA. As Sellafield Ltd’s PBO, NMP’s role is to provide strategic direction to Sellafield Ltd, which remains the Site Licence Company (SLC). The SLC manages the day-to-day running of the Sellafield and Capenhurst sites, under contract to the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA). NMP’s vision for Sellafield Ltd is: “The SLC and its people will achieve the NDA mission through safe, sustainable, world class performance and effective partnering with stakeholders to become the site and workforce of choice for potential new missions.” NMP’s first job as PBO was to appoint a new executive team for Sellafield Ltd. This has been done in two phases. Initially, the previous executive was replaced on a “like for like” basis, with nine new directors joining Paul Foster, who was retained from the previous team, to form the company’s new executive team. 1 However, NMP believes that a larger executive team in a re-organised management structure will be better placed to deliver Sellafield Ltd’s programme of work. Since the end of November, the organisation structure has been changed accordingly and nine additional directors have been put in post in the new executive team. The new directorates have been created mainly by splitting some of the larger old directorates into two or more smaller ones. Bob Pedde was originally appointed as Managing Director, succeeding Barry Snelson MBE. However, a family medical problem meant Mr Pedde was forced to give up his position and return to the United States. William (Bill) Poulson, whose previous experience involved overseeing the operations of a number of US nuclear sites, including the Savannah River Site, was appointed as Mr Pedde’s successor. As part of the changes to the management structure, Sellafield Ltd has appointed two deputy managing directors, George Beveridge and Todd Wright, who, along with Mr Poulson, make up the Managing Director’s office. A copy of the new company structure, appendix one, can be found at the end of this report. These changes were carried out in a phased process, so as to allow the site to continue functioning safely and productively while they took place. The site’s management of change process has been fully utilised to ensure that safety and environmental management are not compromised. After completing share transfer, Sellafield Ltd presented a 100 day plan, which is an initial change programme designed to engage and energise the workforce, stakeholders and customers. The 100 day plan maps out what Sellafield Ltd will achieve over the initial period from share transfer. The goal during the 100 day period has been to maintain safe operations, engage with stakeholders, customers and the workforce and build the foundation for efficiency initiatives. The plan is focused around NMP’s fundamental approach of People, Partnering and Performance. Those fundamentals transcend the 100 day plan, and have been adopted as the ethos for Sellafield Ltd’s future. People Sellafield Ltd has adopted a set of company values, which the new management team is working to cascade down through the company. These are: 2 Safety, we will actively care for each others’ safety. People, we will enable and encourage each individual to reach their full potential. Respect, we will value people as they are – the abilities, contributions and participation of all. Integrity, we will do what is right. Commitment, we will do what we say when we say we will do it. Learning, we will create a climate of continuous learning. New teams have been introduced to look at the operations and processes at Sellafield Ltd. These teams contain a mix of experts from the parent companies of NMP and Sellafield Ltd employees. The idea behind the teams is that they allow daily processes and operations of Sellafield to be analysed by a mix of some of the company’s best people and experts with vast experience and knowledge from the three partners which make up the PBO. The idea behind the teams’ introduction is that having a fresh pair of eyes looking at day to day operations may allow the teams to come up with fresh ideas and solutions to problems by sharing best practice from around the world. The teams are called PAIS Teams, PAIS stands for; Partner – each team comprises subject matter experts from the parent companies partnered with members of the SLC; this is a key part of the process. Assess – the assessment phase will look at procedures, policies and practices that are in place, with interaction and engagement of the work force. Innovate – the major focus of PAIS Teams is the development of innovative solutions on how to improve performance in each area examined. Identified solutions will be managed by the MD office for consistent implementation across the business. Sustain – outcomes from the ‘innovate’ phase must be institutionalised into site procedures, policies and practices to ensure the identified improvements are sustained and built on for the future. There are a total of 13 different PAIS Teams looking at each area of the business. The teams typically have six to eight members and generally an equal mix of existing Sellafield Ltd staff and employees from the three companies which make up the PBO. The PAIS teams are scheduled to submit their recommendations in early April, and a schedule of work will then be established to implement the proposed improvements across the sites, as a key part of the overall change programme. Sellafield Ltd is making a renewed effort to strengthen the relationship between the company and the employees’ representatives in the unions. A partnership programme has been launched, with a view to agreeing a partnering charter. One of the key improvements already identified is better use of the Performance Management Agreement (PMA) process. 3 The PMA is an agreement between the company and each employee, detailing what is expected from each over the next 12 months. The PMA is discussed and agreed at a one to one meeting between the employee and their line manager. These meetings are a key tool in identifying development opportunities for employees, something which Sellafield Ltd is keen to further enhance. The PMA process is currently being enhanced, and will include quarterly reviews, individual development plans and opportunities for managers to nominate employees for development processes like the newly established Talent Pool. Partnering As mentioned above, one of the key fundamentals of the new Sellafield Ltd ethos is Partnering. In keeping with this a Partnering Charter was signed between Sellafield Ltd, NMP and the NDA on the date of share transfer. This charter is a commitment to delivering world class performance by delivering shared objectives through partnering, mutual support, trust and respect. It maps out how the organisations will work together Work is also ongoing to develop a socio-economic plan for Sellafield Ltd, which will be strategically focused and integrated with the NDA and NMP socio-economic policies. The SLC’s stakeholder relations department is working closely with key stakeholders to help develop the plan. The same department is working with the NDA and community leaders to develop Sellafield Ltd’s input into strategic decisions. The new executive team is also meeting regularly with all our regulators to develop constructive relationships based round a common understanding of our collective aims for the sites. Performance Sellafield Ltd believes that if we get the People and the Partnering aspects right then world class performance will follow. We are focused on making the improvements necessary to achieve world class performance. However we recognise that making such improvements will be fruitless unless the improvements are sustainable, and the world class performance is continuous. Safety Performance Another change that has been introduced across the whole of Sellafield Ltd is that each meeting now begins with a safety share, where someone involved in the meeting provides information or advice relating to safety. The purpose of this is two fold; the safety share gives an opportunity to share best practice around safety, even if it is something as simple as advice on driving conditions. It also demonstrates a commitment 4 that safety comes before everything else, putting the subject at the forefront of people’s minds. Key Safety Indicators The key safety indicators for the site are split into nuclear safety and conventional safety accidents. The nuclear element is recorded through the Sellafield Incident Reports (SIR’s) as reported weekly in the Sellafield Newsletter. At the time of writing the report there have been 32 SIR’s against a full (financial) year target of less than 28. The conventional safety target is recorded using RIDDOR reportable Lost Time Accidents, (Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations.) To date there have been 15 reported cases against a full year forecast of less than18.

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